Wakeup Call

May 25, 2004|The Morning Call

BAD DAY TO BE

ON A CEREAL BOX

Timing is everything. Now if we can just convince the folks at Wheaties of that.

The same day that Andre Agassi was ousted from the French Open by Jerome Haehnel, a qualifier from France ranked 271st in the world, a package to The Morning Call sports department was received publicizing the fact that Agassi, "one of the all-time greats is being honored by Wheaties, the fabled "Breakfast of Champions,' with his own cereal box.

There is no doubting Agassi's greatness. He has won eight Grand Slam titles, which includes at least one championship in each Slam event; 58 singles titles; three Davis Cup titles and has done terrific humanitarian work with at-risk kids in the Las Vegas area. He has his own commercials, went from pony tail to shaved head, went from Brooke Shields to Steffi Graf and went from Wheaties cereal box champion to first-round loser in the French Open.

So Monday wasn't the right day to be calling him a champion and seeing his mug on a Wheaties box.

With Andre on the way home to Steffi and their young child, there is one question that needs to be answered: Wonder what the 23-year-old Haehnel had for breakfast on Monday?

GOLDEN BOY

Marilyn Bailey of Westlake Village, Calif., along with her husband, owned a sporting goods store in Westchester in the late 1960s that supplied items to the Lakers.

In an e-mail to Laker memorabilia collector David Kohler, she said she was asked to dye the Lakers' wristbands gold. One day she got bold and threw in an athletic supporter as well.

"Wilt Chamberlain happened to be in the office the day I took an order to the Forum and I told him he might enjoy the item on top," Bailey said. "He was wearing the gold jock strap when he suffered a knee injury and had to go the hospital."

Bailey says she has always wondered how the nurses reacted to seeing that.

WRONG GENE POOL

Boston Red Sox manager Terry Francona told the Hartford Courant about this exchange with a fan at a Boston clothing store:

"He says, "You used to manage the Phillies and now you're with the Red Sox,' and I said, "Yeah.'

"The guy says, "Gene. Gene Mauch.' He was dead serious."

HAIR APPARENT

The Red Sox's Johnny Damon had his beard shaved off, but the mop of hair remains. Says Jim Armstrong of the Denver Post: "Steroids. They need to test Damon for Rogaine."

BEHIND IN THE COUNT

From Randy Hill of foxsports.com:

"A double sneeze [his own] has put Cub slugger Sammy Sosa on the DL. According to witnesses, Sosa became vulnerable after falling behind in the pollen count."

LUKE, I AM YOUR FATHER

Bill Walton, asked by CBS' Craig Kilborn about reports that Britney Spears had a crush on his son Luke, said, "Isn't she married?" TRIVIA TIME

The Calgary Flames relocated from what U.S. city and in what year? Answer: Atlanta, in 1980. Wakeup Call is a collection of observations from sports figures and writers worldwide.